SUMMIT, NJ — Reeves-Reed Arboretum is well-known for its children’s nature programming, gardens and trees, but it also offers programs for adults, including workshops, lectures and tours. Tours are offered on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and are free and open to the public. These tours are for individuals, not groups, to learn about what is currently in bloom. Private group garden tours are available by reservation and will include information about the history of this once-private estate; they can include a private tea service. This new option is in partnership with the Secret Tea Room, a venture by Summit resident Richard Wright. Pop-up tea and coffee events also take place monthly and overlook the beautiful gardens. There will be a Mother’s Day Tea on Sunday, May 8.
The arboretum’s annual plant sale takes place the weekend of Friday through Sunday, May 6 through 8, rain or shine. The sale features annuals and perennials, natives and tropicals, as well as Freeman Medal winners. Offerings include the unusual, the workhorses, the little-known treasures that should become household names, the hard-to-find and the arboretum staff’s favorite picks and not-so-guilty pleasures.
Garden, tea and fashion enthusiasts might enjoy “Hort Couture,” a two-part program. For Part 1, on Wednesday, May 18, or Saturday, May 21, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., participants will fashion fascinator hats. For Part 2, on Thursday, May 26, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., they will wear their creations and attend a tea party in the arboretum’s historic Wisner House or in the gardens, weather permitting.
Interested in creating a cottage garden? The arboretum’s Notable Garden Speaker Series will welcome Judy Glattstein on Thursday, June 9, from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. An instructor for many years at the New York Botanical Garden, Glattstein is a lecturer, garden consultant and writer who is sure to inspire with garden ideas.
Those adults who want to relax and meditate in the garden can join Tracy Hart of Mindful Life on Demand for mindful movements with sound healing on Thursday, May 5, and Monday, May 16; Tuesday, June 14; and Tuesday, June 21. Each of those evenings, from 7 to 8 p.m., Hart will offer breathing exercises, meditation and crystal singing bowls, all of which promote deep relaxation and healing of the mind and body.
Lastly, join Reeves-Reed Arboretum for its largest fundraiser of the year, ART in the Garden. This garden party under the stars, on Saturday, June 4, from 6 to 11 p.m., will feature a cocktail reception in the garden catered by David Ellis Events, live music from Lenox Underground, art by William Durkin, live and silent auctions, and a wine raffle; the Summit Free Market, a volunteer program that works to reduce the amount of reusable material that enters Summit’s waste stream, will be honored.
For details about all Reeves-Reed programs and events, visit reeves-reedarboretum.org. Reeves-Reed Arboretum is a nonprofit public garden located at 165 Hobart Ave., Summit. For more information, inquire at [email protected] or call 908-273-8787.
Photos Courtesy of Doreen Schindler